Fire
by Anorak Myth
Summary: "Don't you see the fire?  Kaiya and Shouta are dead.  If you hadn't run off, they'd still be alive."  The story behind the fire that killed Kiba's pack.  Oneshot, Kiba POV.  No pairings.  Companion piece for Moments, but both stories can stand alone.


Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain and am not making any profit from this writing.

If you've read _Moments_, this is the scene (in chapter two) where Kiba tells Hige about the fire that killed his pack. _Moments_ is Kiba/Hige, but there are no pairings in this (unless you count Kiba's parents, of course). So it's safe to read if you don't like yaoi. :)

This may get confusing, so I'll explain who the characters are here. Kiba's parents have had two litters. The first included Kaiya, Daiki, Ryu, and Sakura. The second included Shouta, Nori, Kenta, Genkei, Yuki, and Kiba. Ayame and Misa are sisters, but they are not related to Kiba. They were born in a different pack.

Warnings: OCs abound, minor spoilers for Episodes 6 and 20-something (the ones that talk about Kiba's past)

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><p>Fire<p>

I don't know how it started. I was chasing Shouta, my brother, and we heard the pack howling. We had wandered too far from the den. Mother was furious. My older sister Kaiya came to get us.

Shouta hid. He crawled into some animal hole, and Kaiya couldn't get to him.

"Ugh, Shouta! Come out!" she demanded.

"No," he growled, "Kiba, get in here quick."

"Mother is going to be even angrier if we don't come back right away," I tried to reason with him.

"So?" he demanded.

"So you two need to come back with me!" Kaiya answered. That's when the pack started howling again. They were worried.

"Something's wrong," Kaiya said nervously, her tail high in the air and her hackles raised, "We need to go back."

"I don't believe you. She's trying to trick us, Kiba," Shouta accused.

"Shouta," I whined, "Come on, let's just go. I'm scared."

"You can't be _scared!_" he snarled, "That's stupid! Stop being such a stupidhead!"

"It's not stupid, it's smart," Kaiya growled, "Something dangerous is coming, we need to leave right now."

"You go then, if you're so scared!" Shouta told us.

"Shut up," Kaiya said, "I'm not angry anymore, okay? I'm not going to punish you, I promise. Just come out."

"No. I'm not scared."

"You don't get it," she said, her voice dropping lower, "I don't want to leave you here."

"Shouta, _please,_" I begged, "I'm really scared. Let's just go home."

"No. Go away, you scaredy cat," he snapped.

"Shouta," Kaiya started, pleadingly, but then she stopped, "Fine. One dead puppy is better than two. I'll come back for you. Kiba, let's go."

She picked me up and started running. She carried me back to Mother, and then she went back for him. I never saw her again.

The adults were talking about fire, and we could see smoke rising up. Yuki, my sister, and my other brothers, Nori, Genkei, and Kenta, were all huddled together. Yuki was so mad that Shouta and I ran off without them. We always left her out because she was the only girl in our litter. All of us did it, but Shouta and I were the worst, and we didn't just do it to Yuki.

We never wanted anything to do with the others. Kenta was the firstborn, and he was the biggest. I think Father planned to have him succeed him as alpha. He was always trying to lead us, and he was the one that stood up for Yuki when we bullied her too much. Genkei was the quietest, but he was always the smartest. Nori always tried to impress the adults, especially Ayame. She came from another pack with her sister, and he had a huge crush on her. Yuki was smart and fast, but she was the smallest.

Shouta was headstrong, stubborn, and adventurous. He was my best friend, we did everything together. We explored the caves nearby, followed bears around, and spied on the adults when they went hunting. We were always getting into trouble.

Misa, Ayame's sister, was only a little older than Kaiya. She told us that they were all going to take us somewhere safe. Mother picked me up then, and that's when I asked about Shouta.

"I'm sure Kaiya will be coming with him soon," Father said, but he wasn't very reassuring. We all saw the way he looked at Mother, and Ayame started whimpering. Nori got angry then, because Ayame was upset.

"Kiba, why can't you just shut up for once? Don't you see the fire? Kaiya and Shouta are _dead._ If you hadn't run off, they'd still be alive," he yelled. Mother tried to shush him, but not in time.

"I _hate_ you. I hope _you_ die," I snarled back, and I meant it. It was the last thing I ever said to him.

Not "I love you" or "I'm sorry." No tearful goodbye or heartfelt confession. Just a sincere wish for his death. I guess that's what they mean when they say, "be careful what you wish for."

And Nori was right. Kaiya was the fastest runner, that's probably why they sent her to get us. If we had just stayed at the den, if she hadn't had to come so far away to get us, she definitely would have gotten out alive. They all might have. It was our fault that they had to wait. If they had left sooner, maybe they would all have survived.

"Shut it! Both of you, right now!" Daiki, my older brother, snapped at us, and he picked up Nori. Father, Ayame, and Misa picked up the others. They all tried to run with us then. They didn't know which way was safest, so they split up. Daiki went one way, Ayame and Misa went another. Mother and Father stayed together as long as they could.

Father had Yuki, but then a branch came down, and he must have tripped. I heard Yuki yelp, and when I looked back, she was on the ground. He must have lost his grip in surprise. He stopped to pick her up again. I'll always remember her eyes at that moment – so wide and frightened.

"Yuki!" I yelled.

"Ki-" she cut herself off with a yelp, and then I saw them both burning.

"Yuki!" I screamed again, but she didn't respond. I couldn't look away, but Mother didn't stop, she didn't even glance back. She just kept running. When she finally stopped, well beyond the end of the forest, she put me in a rabbit hole, or something.

"Wait here," she whispered urgently, "Don't come out until I tell you to. I'll be back soon, I just need to find Yuki. Don't worry, it'll be okay."

Obviously, she didn't come back.

There were no survivors. I had another brother and sister, from Kaiya's litter. Sakura and Ryu. They left before I was born. Sakura chose the alpha of another pack for her mate, and Ryu went with her to protect her. They came back when they smelled the fire. They searched everywhere for us. Ryu was the one that finally found me.

I remember hearing leaves crunch nearby, and a lot of howling back and forth. Then a black nose appeared in the hole. I was exhausted, but I smacked him with my paw. He yelped and backed away, but he came back a few moments later and dug me out.

I was terrified. Ryu grabbed me by the scruff and pulled me out. He just stared at me for a while, like he wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. Then he howled.

_Sakura. I found one of the pups. He is alive._ She called back almost immediately.

_Stay with him. I'll keep looking._

Ryu lied down next to me and starting licking me, cleaning off all the dirt. I didn't recognize him, but his scent was familiar.

"Who are you?" I growled weakly.

"Me? I'm your brother, Ryu. We've been looking everywhere for you. Do you know where any of the others are?" he asked gently.

"No," I whined, leaning into him, "We got separated. Kaiya and Shouta are gone. Father and Yuki are dead. Mother hasn't come back. Did you find her?"

He hesitated.

"We did. She's dead."

Ryu curled up around me and nuzzled me. I whimpered and cried. I don't know how long, I finally cried myself to sleep. Ryu tried, really, but I was inconsolable.

"They're all dead," Sakura explained in the morning, numbly. I didn't realize at the time, but she must have been in shock.

"So what do we do with the puppy?" Ryu asked her.

"What do you think?" she answered, distantly, "We leave it with the humans."

"You hate humans."

"They're occasionally useful."

They howled all through the next night. At dawn, a man came to see what had happened. Sakura lured him to me, and he brought me back to his village. After that, I barely saw my siblings. Ryu kept his distance, and Sakura lost herself in her grief.

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><p>I included Ryu and Sakura at the end because, really, what is the likelihood that within a day or two after the wolves were slaughtered, some random guy shows up and miraculously happens to find a puppy buried there? Wolves have miles of territory, Kiba could have been anywhere – the guy would have no clue where to look. And if Kiba wasn't rescued within a few days, he would dehydrate or something. Maybe he would starve to death, puppies are pretty fragile. So, for the purposes of this story, the tribal guy had help. Ryu hovered around and took care of Kiba until he found him. And, in my head, Sakura helped nudge said guy in the right direction.<p>

The only name of real significance is Kaiya, which means forgiveness. There was a definite point to that. The others were just names I liked. I wanted to do wolf names like in the series, but I couldn't find any.

If anyone's curious, I picture Yuki as being pure white like Kiba, Ryu as silver, and Sakura as russet. I didn't really picture the others distinctly.

Shouta – soaring, big

Kaiya – forgiveness

Misa – beautiful bloom (also – Misaki)

Yuki – snow

Nori – belief

Kenta – healthy, strong

Genkei – to be honored

Daiki – big, shining

Ayame – Iris

Ryu – dragon

Sakura – cherry blossom


End file.
